The Only Two Business Strategies

There are really only two business strategies: caring and not caring.

No Caring

The “no caring” business strategy makes everything transactional. This strategy is built on the idea of driving down costs as much as possible and charging the lowest possible price. Eventually everything must be sacrificed on the altar of lowest price. Every transaction, every interaction, needs to be done at a lower and lower cost. Even the customer experience must be sacrificed, because an excellent customer experience increases costs. And if you can’t–or won’t–capture a higher price, then you can’t allow your costs to increase.

When you hear people complain that no one does good work anymore, that customer service is dead, or that no one really cares, they’re really making an observation about a lot of companies choice of business strategy. But when you demand cheaper and cheaper, you demand a “no caring” strategy.

Many companies have unwittingly made this choice by selling price. But by driving towards lowest price, you are driving towards transactional. Transactional is “no caring.”

Caring

The caring business strategy is completely different. This strategy is built on the idea of delighting customers and building lasting relationships. It is built on trust. Customers that choose the “caring” strategy are accountable for the promise of delivering something that is worth paying more to obtain. Caring is what delivers that promise.

It’s “caring” in manufacturing in design. It’s “caring” in user experience. It’s “caring” in customer experience. It’s “caring” in execution. And it’s “caring” in results.

The “caring” strategy is anything but the lowest-price strategy. Caring takes resources, including time and money. It requires that you hire people that care, and that you build a culture that supports–and insists on–caring. Nothing you do can be transactional. Value must be created and captured to deliver “caring.”

When you hear people rave about an experience, a product, a service, or a sales organization, what they are raving about is “caring.”

The middle between these two poles is purgatory. You are either driving towards “caring” or you are going to be driven to “no caring.”

Questions

What is your choice of strategy?

Are you driving towards lower transaction costs and lower prices?

Are you capturing the value you need to deliver real “caring?”

How easy is it to tell which choice a sales organization has made?